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Martin Parmer - A
Founding Father of
Missouri |
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Martin
Parmer
Martin Parmer was a Virginian by
birth and rearing having been born there on June 4, 1778 as Martin
Palmer (frontier usage changed the
spelling and pronunciation of the last name). By the time he was
twenty, he had ventured into
Kentucky and then on to Tennessee where he married his first wife Sarah
Hardwick with whom he would have
ten children. She died in 1826. (He would remarry 3 more times being
widowed twice more and would father 7 more
children). While in Dickinson County Tennessee, he was superintendent of the Montgomery Bell Iron Works. This company
made, among other things, cannonballs, which were used by Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.
He, himself, being the son of an American
Revolutionary War Veteran, Martin entered the service in the War of 1812,
where he attained the rank of colonel.
.
Always in search of a new frontier
to tame, he moved to Missouri in 1816 at the age of 38. He became a
well known Indian fighter and was
very instrumental in Missouri obtaining statehood. He became interested in
politics when he served as a delegate to
the Constitutional Convention of Missouri in 1821. He later served as both a state representative and as a state
senator for the state of Missouri.
----
History of Clay Co.,
Missouri
The nine Indians came
to Mr. McElwee's one evening and took three horses belonging to the
settler, from the stable, and seized
another which they weie prevented from carrying off only by the stubborn
and plucky interposition of young James
McElwee. The Indians seemed greatly elated at the ease with which
they had "got even" with the whites in the
matter of horse stealing, and at once sent off the three
captured animals, in charge of two
of their number, to the tribe. The other seven Indians went into
camp for the night within fifty
yards of Mr. McElwee's house.
. The young McElwees were in great terror to be sure. But when their father left he had charged them that if they were ever in danger from
the Indians they had only to let their nearest neighbor know it and
they would soon be relieved. On
this occasion they contrived to let Mr. Thomas Officer know of their
situation and soon the entire
settlement was informed that seven Indians had already taken
three
horses from the McElwee young folks and were threatening them by their presence with further damage and injury. The next morning early came old Martin Parmer, and with him Patrick Laney, Thomas Officer, James Officer, David Liles,
William Liles, James Woolard, Alex. Woolard and Brununett. With them were
Mrs. Jane Laney, wife of Patrick
Laney, and Miss Mary Crawford, who had come for companionship for Miss
McElwee.
. The Indians were a little startled by the appearance of the settlers but stoutly maintained that what they had done was justifiable and
altogether proper. Old Martin Parmer was not in a mood to discuss
the principles of the lex talionis and its applicability to this case. He never let an opportunity pass to have a fight with the Indians.
Two years before, in a fight of his own bringing on, down on the
Wakenda, in Carroll county, he and
his party killed three Indians and wounded a number more. His voice
was always for war— or, at least
for a fight— when there was the smallest provocation. The discussion
in McElwee's door-yard grew warm,
and at last Parmer said something to one of the Indians which so
incensed him that he presented his
gun at Parmer and cocked it, but before he could tire Parmer shot
him dead. A fierce and stubborn
little fight then came off in the door-yard. Both whites and Indians
ran to cover. Two of the Indians
ran into the house where the ladies were, just seeing them coming Miss
McElwee ran out of doors and Mrs.
Laney and Miss Crawford took refuge under a bed. The Indians outside
were defeated and scattered, one of them
being wounded. Those in the house closed the door tightly and bravely held
the fort. But at last the whites clinibed to the top of the house and
began tearing
away the roof, when the savages
suddenly opened the door and sprang forth, hoping to escape by
swift
running. Some of the settlers were waiting for them and one was shot dead before he had gotten twenty feet from the door; the other
escaped.
. The fight was now over. Two Indians had been killed, and one at least was wounded. Three of the unharmed survivors made their way
in safety back to the tribe, but the remaining one was never
heard of. It was believed that lie, too, was wounded, and crawled off into the woods and died. The one known to have been wounded made
his way to Ft. Osage, where he was cared for until he recovered, and
was then sent back to his tribe. When the
two Indians were running into the cabin Win. McElwee and his sister Sarah both attempted to run out. Miss McElwee got
safely away but one of the Indians struck at
William with a tomahawk. Young
McElwee threw up his arm to protect his head from the blow, but the
weapon descending cut off one of
his fingers. This was all the injuries the whites received, though
some of them heard bullets whiz
uncomfortably close to their ears.
--- (History of Ray County Missouri) His habits were as rude as his cabin, and, like all other pioneers, he was a rude disciple of Esau, and lived by hunting. There
were, however, but three kinds of game, Ring Tail Parmer cared to expend
ammunition upon, and these, as he
expressed it, were deers, bar and Injuns.' The last named, in his
judgment, were not the least
worthy of his deadly aim. His warfare with the red men was not manly and
open, but on the contrary was
stealthy and murderous.
The traveler who
called at Parmer's cabin and claimed his hospitality was furnished with
dry
deerskins for his bed, and venison
and wild honey for his repast. The ceiling of the cabin was lined
with dried venison; one corner of
the room was filled with green hams; another was occupied with a
number of deerskins sewed up tight
into sacks and filled with honey-comb, and another contained a pole
scaffold fitted up as a bedstead. On two
hooks over the rude fireplace hung his rifle, the most
esteemed article of furniture
about the household. Thus fitted up in life, and with such paraphernalia
started the first settler in this
great valley; and when the reader is introduced to Parmer's cabin and
made acquainted with its
arrangements and fixtures, he has been introduced to the domicile and its
appointments of every early
pioneer that first settled the forests and plowed the virgin soil of the
Great West. Parmer's cabin,
on Parmer's creek, formed the nucleus of a settlement which in the course
of a dozen years, extended along
the hilly bluff lands as far northwest as Salt creek and as far north
as the 'great prairie' to which
then even the hunters knew no limit.
--- (Boon's-Lick Intelligencer) Nine Indians, of the Sack nation, came to the house of a Mr. Mucklewee [McElwee], living 12 miles above the ford of the Fishing River, in this country on the 23rd inst. Three of them drove off a part of Mr. Mucklwee's horses, and the
remaining six made the family go into the house, and barred up the door
and kept them from getting out in the
night; one of them however, made his escape out the chimney, and
alarmed the neighbors; ten men were
instantly collected, headed by Captain Martin Palmer, and preceeded
directly to the house of Mucklewee, where
they found the Indians-the whites demanded a surrender, when
two of the Indians pulled off their shot
bags and presented them, and four of them levelled their guns.
Captain Palmer then ordered his men to
fire, and five of the Indians were killed; the sixth advanced into the house, with his gun in his hand, and his
tomohawk drawn, and cut off the hand, of a child that stood near the door; he then wheeled and was in the act of
discharging his musket at one of the men, when he was shot through the head and fell
dead.
--- (The Richmond Enquirer, from Franklin, Mo.) "We recieved a letter a
few days since, from Col. Martin Parmer, of Clay County, stating that he
had
received infromation that the
Iaway Indians had lately robbed a house in a remote part of the county
and stolen five horses. The
colonel requests us to state, that "he is now raising three or four
hundred men with the intention of
marching to their village, recovering the stolen proeprty, and
punishing the agressors." He
requests the aid of 100 mounted riflemen from Howard County, to meet him
at the mouth of the Grand River, on 25th
inst. This expedition if
carried into effect, will, we fear, be productive of serious consequences
to our frontier inhabitants by involving
them in a savage war. If it is true, as stated, that the Indians
have actually stolen these horses, we have
no doubt measures might be adopted to compel a restoration, without marching a hostile and unauthorised force into
their country"
---- (LOUISVILLE (Ky) Dec. 10, 1825) Missouri.-The
Independent Patriot states that "there are now four vacancies in the
Senate of
Missouri; that the Legislature
convenes in January next, and the acting Governor has failed to issue
writs of election, as required by
the constitution. Speaking of the Senators whose places have to be
supplied by the election of
others, the editor says, Col. M'Guire has resigned, Mr. Carr has removed
from the State, Mr. Brown is at
Santa Fe, in the service of the General Governement, and Col. Palmer is
said to have taken French leave
and gone to Texas. In addition to this, it is stated, that "the
acting
Governor's seat will be vacant
until after the votes for Governor are counted, as he cannot play
Governor and Senator, both at the
same time."
---- By the time he went to Texas in 1826, he had quite a reputation for being an Indian fighter and evidently quite a talker always
attracting an audience with his war stories and Indian tales. His own
personal battle cry was that he
was a ‘ring-tailed panther from Missouri’. He was quite a scrapper and
never one to run from a
fight—especially one he had started. So after coming to Texas it wasn’t
long
before he found the fighting.
Colonel Martin Parmer fought with the colonists against the Mexican
authorities in the Fredonian
Rebellion in March 1827 overthrowing Samuel Norris, the alcade or mayor,
and his attorney Jose Antonio
Sepulveda and placing Nacogdoches under martial law. Martin Parmer
was the president of the Fredonia Republic
and one of the leaders. After it was squelched, the Mexican
government gave amnesty to all
involved except Martin, the Edwards brothers and one other leader.
Arrest warrants were issued for
the four leaders so they escaped across the Sabine River back to the
US. Martin Parmer was not only one
of the main leaders of the rebellion, but it appears that he was the
actual spark that started the
Fredonian Rebellion.
.
But he was back in Texas for the
Consultation of 1835 representing the city of Tenaha and then serving
as a delegate from San Augustine
to the Constitutional Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos in March
1836. It was here on March 2, 1836 (Texas
Independence Day) that 58-year-old Martin Parmer, the oldest delegate present and the self-proclaimed ‘ring-tailed
panther from Missouri’ became one of the 59 men to sign this important document. He served on the committee to
draft the declaration. In a letter to
his wife dated March 6, 1836 he
states: “Texas has been declared free, but unless we have a general
turnout and every many lay a
helping hand, too, we are lost. Santa Anna and his vassals are now on our
borders, and the declaration of
our freedom, unless it is sealed with blood, is of no force.” Signed:
Martin Palmer. He also quotes from
Lt. Colonel W. Barret Travis’ Feb. 24th communiqué from the Alamo
that “he must have help.”
.
His son, Isom Parmer, served in
the Texas army, the only one of his sons to do so, and was Sergeant at
arms for the Convention. He had
purchased a fine horse for the sum of $400 Mexican dollars and when Sam
Houston was appointed Commander-in-chief of
the Texas forces and was in dire need for a new mount, Isom sold Houston the horse. It was this same horse that was
later shot out from under Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto.
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As Texas Ranger Captain, Creed Taylor told in Tall Men and Long
Rifles: “The Panther, as he was called,
was a Virginian, and a typical
backwoodsman, who had spent most of his life along the frontiers of
Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri,
Arkansas and Texas and had much notoriety throughout the southwest as a
fighter and a hunter. Palmer was a man of
more than ordinary parts, of most extraordinary strength of mind and body and brave as a lion. He was of large
stature and bronzed of feature, always dressed in
buckskin hunting shirt and leather
trousers, with a panther skin cap, wore his hair long and platted in
Indian Style, and was indeed a
unique figure. I first saw the ‘Panther’ at our home on Taylor’s Bayou
and he impressed me as a most
extraordinary character. On this occasion the ‘Panther’ was well mounted
and armed, and in high glee, eager for a
brush with the enemy.”
.
In 1839 Parmer was appointed Chief
Justice of Jasper County. He died there March 2, 1850 at age 72.
Martin Parmer was buried in Jasper
County on the A.C. Parmer survey where a
sandstone headstone marked the grave until it became illegible. In 1936 during the Texas Centennial, his remains
were removed from Jasper County and re-interred in the State Cemetery in Austin where a granite marker
preserves and honors his memory as one of
the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
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